Valve-operating mechanism for flush tanks



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WILLIAM W. TEMPLETOF OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA.

'VALVE-OPERATING MECHANISIVI FOR VFLUSH TANKS.

Application filed 'March 5, 1919. Serial No. 280,874.

To all whom it may concern: l

Be it known that I, WiLLiAM TEMPinT, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city of Oakland, county of Alameda, and State of Galifornial have invented a new and useful Improvement in a Valve-@perating Mechanism for Flush rI`anks, of whichr the following is a specification.

In flush tanks of the low-down type the leverv that operates the flush valve has hitherto been directly connected with the handle on the outside of the tank, so that the valve can be operated by movement of the handle in one direction only. Many persons who do not know, or who in their hurry forget in what directionthe handle should properly be turned in order to operate` the valve, are

. liable to use force in an attempt to turn the.

handle in the wrong direction, thereby often permanently injuring the flush valve or the operating mechanism therefor so as to cause 4a constant leakage of water from the tank through the valve.

When thus yrepair of the Hush valve mechanism is required, a further di'fliculty arises by the inconvenient arrangement for the dissembling of the parts that operate the Hush valve, so that considerable time is lost in making thevnecessary repair, thus entailing such great cost of the repair that many persons prefer to be annoyed by the leakage iiush valve and to have the consequent eX- y pense of the water wasted as a result thereof than to pay the cost of such repairs.

One object of this invention is to provide for flush tanks a handle which is normally held independent of the valve and in a pendent position by gravity, so that the flush valve may be easily operated by oscillation of the handle in either direction without danger of injury of the flush valve or to the valve-operating mechanism.

A further object is to provide means torestrict the oscillative movement of the handle and thereby to prevent the valve-operat-` ing mechanism from getting out of order.`

A'still further obj ect is to make provision for easily assembling and dissenibling thel parts in the device so as to minimize the costI of necessary repairs of the flush valve and the valve-operating mechanism.

I accomplish these and other objects by means of thedevice disclosed the drawy ings, which form a part of the present specication and wherein like characters are used to designate similar parts throughout the specification and drawings, and in-which Fig. l is a front elevation of my device, the view being partly in section and broken away in order to show the connection of the flush valve Awith the operating mechanism therefor; 4

Fig. 2 is a horizontal -pla'n view of a flush tank with my device attached thereto;

Figs. 3, 4L and 5 are views taken in the direction of the feathered arrow in Fig. 6, l ig. 3 showing the valve-operating lever in inoperative position,

Fig. 4.- showing .the lever, part of which is broken away, in a valve-operative position, and thev handle oscillated toward the right, and i Fig. 5 also showing the lever in a valveoperating position, but the handle oscillated toward the left; and

Fig. 6 is a view partly sectional, taken on line 6 6 in Fig. 2, the wall of the flush tank and the lever of the valve-operating mechanism being broken awayfin order to contract the view.

In the front wall l of the flush tank 2, having the usual outlet 3 at the bottom thereof, and also the usual ball valvel 4 for closing the outlet, I lprovidea sleeve 5, which is externally threaded at both ends and extends into the tank 2 and outside thereof. The sleeve 5 has thereon a shoulder 6, adjacent to the threaded outer end of the sleeve and preferably angular in shape, and upon the sleeve, between the shoulder 6 and the wall l, is a Washer 7,y the inner end of the sleeve being screwed into one end of a bracket 8 'and said end of t-he'bracket having a boss 9 the other end of the bracket 8 is a pin or lu O l() and in a lateral extension l1 of said end of the bracket is another pin or lug l2, both pins orl lugs l0 and l2 extending inwardly into the tank 2, and the bracket being so placed upon the sleeve 5 that the p'ns l0 and .l2 are in a position below the sleeve and one of them in or near and parallel with the perpendicular plane drawn through the axis of the sleeve.

lotatably mounted upon the pin 10` is a bell crank lever 14, the long arm 15 of which extends toward the middle of the tank 2 and has near its end holes 16 and a suitable bend 17, so that one of the Vholes 16 is adapted to receive therein the upper end ofthe operating wire 18 and to hold the wire virtually in perpendicular position directly. above the center of the outlet 3, said wire 18 and the wire 20, connected with the ball valve 4, engaging each other in the usual manner for the operation ofthe valve. i

Within the sleeve 5 is rotatably mounted a shaft21, the outer end of-which is; prefe erablyy reduced, thus forming a shoulder 22 on the shaft, and a nut 23, having at its outer end a central aperture adapted to over the reduced end of the shaft and a femalethread yfitting the outer threaded end ofthe sleeve 5 so that an internal annular shoulder 24 is formed atthe. outer end of the nut, is screwed upon the sleeve, the nut also having an inner, enlarged central bore 25, whereby the nut is adaptedvto turn freely over'the shoulder 6 on the sleeve.

A yoke 27, having a wing or counter-balance 28 oppostely disposed thereto and an inwardly extending boss 29 provided with a bore that fits the shaft 21, is secured to the inner end of shaft by a screw 30, which is threaded through the boss and extends into the shaft so as to prevent'the yoke from turning upon -the shaft. This yoke 27 is adapted to embrace theshort arm 31 of the lever 14, and the short arm 31 being curved and extending upwardly and above the shaft 21 and also adjacent to its end having a recess 32 in its inner edge for engaging a detent 33 in the yoke, at the bent part thereof; Adjacent to the pin 10 the short arni 31 of the lever 14 is widened andl this wide end is provided with la slot 34 through which the pin 12 in the bracket 8 extends, the

slot being sufficiently wide to allow free play of the pin 12 therein when the lever is swung upon its pivot 10.

On the reduced outer end of the shaft 21 is mounted a handle 35, whic-h may be of any suitable construction, but is preferably constructed as shown inV the drawings for the.

convenience in assembling and dissembling the devlce. This handle,as shown, comprlses two parts, the inner part 36 of whico 'has a bore therein, transverse to the axis of the handle and fitting the reduced part of the shaft 21, and another bore, coaxial with a longitudinal, central bore in the outer part 37 of the handle, the outer 'end of the bore in the inner part k36 being enlarged, as vshown at 38, and the inner part thus serving as a ferrule for the outer part of the handle. Although the handle shown comprises two main parts, the outer one of which for ornamental purposes may be of a different material than the inner part, it is understoodA that the handle proper may be made in one part. A stud 40 iswith its inner end screwed into the reduced part of the shaft 21, and upon the outer end of the stud is screwed a nut 41 for firmly securing the handle 35 tothe shaft. It should be noticed that, when the handle is so secured,'the inner part 36thereof prevents inward longitudinal movement of the shaft 21 in the sleeve 5, while the shoulder 22 prevents outward longitudinal movement thereof, the inner part r36 being suflicientlynear the outer end ofthe nut 23 to allow only a slight play of the shaft in the sleeve 5,. so that the handle is adapted by its own gravity to be held normally in a pendent position.

When the handle thus is held in a pendent or inoperative position,'the detent 33 of the yoke 27 is lout of engagement with the inner edge of the short arm 31 of thelever 14, so that the weight of the longarm -15 of the lever in conjunction with the weight ofthe operative wire 18 holds the lever arm, 15 in its lowest position, which osieV tion is determined by the engagement o the' pin 12 with the lower end of the slot 34, 95 as shown in ig. 3. Again, when the handle is moved to theposition shown in Fig'. 4, an excessively long movement 'in that direction will be prevented by the engagement 1 of the pin 12 with the upper end of the 100 slot 34, while a movement of the handle in the direction shown in Fig. 5 will be restrcted by the engagement of the detent 33 of the yoke 27 with theV recess 32in' the v short arm 31, so that a movement of the 105 handle toward either of the directions shown in Figs. 4 and 5 will cause the lever 14 to lift the ball valve 4 from its seatin the outlet 3 of the flush tank 2. From the foregoing it is thus seen that the handle 110 may be oscillated in either direction without injury to the valve-operating mechanism Aof the device.

What I claim as new and by Letters Patent, is z-f In a flush tank operating mechanism, a shaft rotatably mounted in the wall of the tank and extending therethrough; a handle secured to the shaft at the outer end thereof so that the handle is thereby adapted to 120 oscillate and to remain normally in a pendent position; a bell crank lever having a curved short arm and beingv pivotally mounted in the tank and having its long arm connected with the flush valve in the tank for opening the flush valve, the short arm having a slot therein and inner edge of the short arm having a recess therein adjacent to the end of the arm; a'yoke secured to the shaft at'the inner end thereof 1730 desire to secur and embracing the short arm of the lever, pin connected With the Wall of the tank said yoke engaging the inner edge of the and extending through the slot for restrictshort arm for operating the lever by osciling the oscillatve movement of the handle 10 lation of the handle; a detent in the yoke in the other direction,

adapted to engage the recess in the short In Witness whereof I hereunto set my arm for restricting the oseillative movesignature. ment of the handle in one direction; and a WLLAM W. TEMPLET. 

